Somaliland: :Information minister scoffs at opposition hypocrisy

By M.A. EggeSomalilandsun-The Minister of Information, National Guidance and Culture have shot down the notion claimed by Wadani party that the state sends its officials to work in Mogadishu.He at the same time scoffed and chided the opposition for being hypocritical.Hon. Osman Abdillahi Sahardid Addani who spoke to the members of the press in his office yesterday wondered how the administration could abet treachery by sending its staff to Somalia.“The policy of the government which has well been reiterated by the Head of State H.E. Ahmed Mohammed Mohamud Silanyo is quite clear as concerns our sovereignty”, said the minister.He said that the independence of the country is not negotiable and can never be reversed.While responding to media queries surrounding the absconding of senior civil servants who absconded duty hence were reported to have joined the Somalia parliament, Hon. Sahardid said that their actions were pure treachery.He said that the deputy SLN television manager who has since joined the Mogadishu government had asked for permission to attend a wedding in neighboring Djibouti.The minister said that in essence the action taken by the official was, if anything, pure treachery.He said it was quite serious to create rumours insinuating that those absconding to the south were sponsored by the state.The minister further chided the opposition Wadani party for being hypocritical and maligning the personality of the Presidency without due justification.He said that whereas the party hawks derived their stalwartness from playing tribal politics, they accused the Head of State of meeting members of the society.He said that the President had all the rights to meet with any section of the populace, be they a community or a cross-section of the society by the virtue of his office.He decried the two-faced attitude depicted by their cries of foul given that it is them (Wadani) who play tribal politics.The minister wondered how such officials could smear the national President’s name in such crude way.On the other hand the minister gave a grim picture of the dire plight of the people affected with the severe drought that has afflicted the people in the country.“There is severe scarcity of water for both people and their livestock just as there is no food for them”, he said.He said that the emaciated animals could not be sold too.